These 5 Simple Exercises Will Boost Your Eyesight

Sigh.

I wear glasses. A lot of people do – 6 out of 8 in the developed world, to be exact.

And if you’ve been wearing glasses for a considerable amount of time, you’re probably familiar with the notion that your eyes are simply messed up and there’s nothing you can really do about it except show up for an eye exam every few years, have your prescription adjusted and spend another car insurance payment-worth of cash on new lenses and frames.

But that notion is totally wrong.

In reality, there are quite a few things you can do to improve the function of your eyes, and I’d like to share a few helpful eye exercises with you.

As a bit of a disclaimer, eye exercises won’t rid you of the need for glasses or contacts permanently – leave that to modern technology. What eye exercises will do is help in areas including astigmatism, myopia and hyperopia, as John Donovan with WebMD confirms.

Ok, enough chitchat. Let’s get working on those eyes!

#1. Blink Repeatedly For Two Minutes

Please, not while driving.

Dr. Ben Kim encourages people to “adopt the habit of blinking softly as often as possible.” Among other things, he says this helps keep the eyes consistently coated with tears that contain minerals, proteins and, of course, moisture that is good for your eyes.

#2. Roll Your Eyes

Just make sure your spouse isn’t telling you about their day when you do it.

Snezha.com recommends rolling your eyes in a figure 8 pattern followed by blinking repeatedly for one minute, then reversing direction. In addition to helping eye control and focus, this can also prove to be quite relaxing once you’ve gotten the hang of it.

#3. Close Your Eyes And Press Lightly On Your Eyelids

Lightly, Batman. Lightly.

Palming your eyes can do many things, including helping with the distribution of tears and relaxing your eye muscles – which actually see a lot more movement than you might think.

#4. Close Your Eyes

Closing your eyes will help relax them from the crazy amount of stimuli we see every day.

It can also be great to add to some of the other exercises – such as rolling your eyes in a figure 8 pattern – as it lets you focus on the exercise instead of what’s in front of you.

#5. Move Your Head While You Focus On One Spot

This will be especially helpful if you have problems with focusing your eyes. A step up from this exercise would be to practice reading a book while shifting your head – just don’t get seasick!